Unitary projector player

ABSTRACT

A self-contained unitary projector-player unit to provide a complete entertainment center within itself including a housing, a projector in the housing, a rear projector screen formed in the sidewall of the housing and including a film cartridge change mechanism for handling a plurality of film cartridges and sequentially inserting a cartridge from a stack of cartridges into the projector-player, withdrawing the cartridge after play has been completed, stacking the used cartridge in a receiving receptacle, and inserting the next cartridge in sequence into the projector player.

United States Patent Anderson 14 1 Dec. 5, 1972 541 UNITARY PROJECTORPLAYER 3,582,082 6/1971 Tagagi ..352/123 x R A d 3 00 l h [72] Inventorgi 2;??? 6 3 St Street Primary Examiner-Samuel S. Matthews AssistantExaminer-Alan A. Mathews [22] Filed: Aug. 12, 1971 Attorney-Frank R.Thienpont [21] Appl. No.: 171,130 I [57] ABSTRACT [52] U S Cl 352/72352/8 352/74 A self-contained unitary projector-player unit to pro- 'T352/l23 274/4 vide a complete entertainment center within itself in-[51] Int Cl G03b'23/02 eluding a housing, a projector in the housing, arear 58] Fie'ld 74 123 projector screen formed in the sidewall of thehousing 2741/4 214/6 and including a film cartridge change mechanism forhandling a plurality of film cartridges and sequentially inserting acartridge from a stack of cartridges into the [56] References Cltedprojector-player, withdrawing the cartridge after play UNITED STATESPATENTS has been completed, stacking the used cartridge in a receivmgreceptacle, and inserting the next cartridge 2:352:2

g in sequence into the projector player. 3,512,786 5/1970 Ban ..274/4 F8 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures 26 26A 5 42 i l l 10 27 4i 0 i I 0 26B 51/5O ,1 a8 ii I l l O O l O o i l 23 425 l l I 22 I l I 1 2; J9 1a a 2 .726% 26B \26 27 20 B PATENTED 5 SHEET 2 (IF 3 UN ITARY PROJECTOR'PLAYERBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a projector-playerunit which defines within itself a complete entertainment unit andincludes automatic film cartridge changing mechanism.

SUMMARYOF THE INVENTION A principal object of the invention is toprovide a unitary self-contained device to function as a completeentertainment unit, and including a housing, a rear projection screen inthe housing, sound apparatus, a projector apparatus, and an automaticcartridge change mechanism for automatically injecting and ejecting filmcartridge into and out of the film projector.

Another object of the present'invention is toprovide a unitaryself-contained automatic sound film projector having associatedtherewith an automatic cartridge change mechanism including areciprocating slide mechanism for .automatically injecting filmcartridges into and ejecting film cartridges from the associated filmprojector. I I

Anotherobject of the invention is to provide an automatic cartridgechange mechanism for projectorplayers using cartridges of the continuousstrip type and employing a reciprocating slide mechanism which carriesafixed injector arm for inserting the cartridge into the player, and anexpansible ejector arm for removing the cartridge from the player andbeing adaptable not to interfere with the injection of succeedingcartridges into the player.

It is a more particular object to providea unique cartridgeconfiguration for use with the projector-player and having a pair ofintegral horizontally opposed arms and tapered upper and lower surfacesto facilitate precise injection and ejection of the cartridges into theplayer. I

It is still another object to provide a slide mechanism of the typedescribed in which the injector arm contacts the opposed arms of thecartridge for inserting into the player, and the ejector arms contactthe opposed arms during ejection but are expanded so as to clear theopposed arms during the next injection motion.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent whenconsidered in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an elevation view, partiallycutaway, of the projector-player;

FIG. 2 is a plan view taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a right end view of the unit of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an opposite end view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a portion of FIG.2; and

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a film cartridge used in the projector-player.

DESCRIPTION OF T l-IE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The complete projector-playerdevice disclosed herein is designated generally by the numeral 1. Itincludes a film cartridge selector mechanism 10, a projector 11 and aspeaker 11a contained within a housing 12. The housing has a rearprojection screen 13 with glass protection disposed in one of the foursidewalls and on which film images are projected. An appropriate speakersystem including the speaker 11a may be incorporated into the housing12. The housing 12 also has a hinged lid 14 for providing easy access inloading the mechanism 10 with film cartridge 15.

It is important to note that this unitary self-contained unit provides acomplete entertainment unit within itself including-a projection screenwithin the unit as well as an automatically changing film cartridgemechanism. Thusthe unit partakes of the advantage of the combination ofan ordinary TV unit and an automatic record changer, and its uniquenessas a home entertainment unit becomes readily apparent.

A device of this general type is disclosed in my copending applicationfor US. Pat. Ser. No. 806,619, filed Mar. 12, 1969.

Each of the continuous loop film containing cartridges 15 is preferablyformed of a unitary molded plastic shell 16 and has integral,horizontal, oppositely extending arms 17 formed on opposite sides of thecartridge. Each of the arms 17 is formed on one side witha pin receivinggroove 18 and an ejector contact surface 19 on the opposite side. Thefilm cartridges are tapered at one end on their upper and lower faces tofacilitate stacking at the completion of ejection as hereinafter furtherexplained.

A pair of loading guides 20 are mounted on the interior of the housing12, and the mechanism 10 is loaded by inserting a stack of cartridges 16with their respective arms 17 engaged by the guides 20.

The selector mechanism 10 also comprises a base block 21 mounted withinthe housing 12, a slide plate 22 disposed to slide horizontally on topof the block 21, a pair of injector arms 23 rigidly attached to theplate 22, and a pair of ejector arms 24 pivotally attachedto the plate22. A pair of guide blocks 25 are mounted within the housing 12 on.opposite sidesof the base block 21 and each has formed on its uppersurface an elongate substantially rectangular groove or track 26. Atorsion arm 27, biased into a closed position, as shown in FIG. 5, ismounted within the outermost end of groove 26. The slide plate 22 isconstrained to move in one dimension by a pair of overlying flange rails28 secured to the base block 21.

The slide plate 22 is caused to move longitudinally by an electric motor30 rigidly attached to the plate 22. The motor 30 has a drive shaft 31which carries a pinion gear 32. The block 21 is formed with an elongatelongitudinal horizontal slot 33 through which the shaft 31 extends, andthe gear 32 engages a rack34 mounted on a horizontal ledge 35 on theside of the block 21. A well 30a in the base block 21 accommodates thereciprocating movement of the motor 30.

The arms 23 are rigidly attached to the forward end of plate 22 and eacharm carries an upwardly extending injector push pin 38. The pins 38 areadapted to engage the grooves 18 formed in the arms 17 of a cartridge15.

The arms 24 are pivotally mounted on the plate 22 by pins or bolts 40and each carry an upwardly extending ejector pull pin 41 and adownwardly extending guide pin 42. The ejector pins 41 are adapted toengage the surfaces 19 on the arms 17 of cartridge 15, and the pins 42engage the groove 26 in the guide blocks 25. The arms 24 are biasedinwardly by tension springs 44 attached to the arms 24 and to the slide22. The inward motion of the arms 24' is limited by a back-up key orstop 45 attached to the slide 22.

A reverse stacking guide or receptacle 50 is mounted on top of the baseblock 21 and has retaining sidewalls 51 and a guide ramp 52. Aspreviously mentioned, the film cartridge shells 16 aretapered at 55 and56 to provide upper and lower entry angles to facilitate reversestacking of the cartridges into the receptacle 50.

It is to be understood that the total mechanism also includes suitableelectric power and start control switches 60 and 61.

The operation of the selector mechanism in conjunction with theprojector 11 may be described as follows:

The lid 14 is raised and the cartridges 15 are stacked into the guidesin the desired order of play. The motor is energized, the pins 38 engagethe arms 17, and the bottom cartridge 15 is injected into the projector11 for play. Upon the completion of the particular film, the motor 30 isautomatically energized again in the reverse direction. The ejector pins41 engage the surfaces 19 of the arms 17 and the slide 22 moves to theright, as shown in FIG. 1, and carries the cartridge 15 with it. Thetapered lower surface 56 of the cartridge engages the ramp 52 and thecartridge 15 is forced into the receptacle 50. As soon as the cartridgeto be ejected .has cleared the cartridge immediately above it, thelatter will fall into position on block 21 by gravity and is inreadiness to be moved into a play position on the next injection cycle.

During the ejection cycle, the pins 42 on the ejector arms 24 move alongthrough the inboard portion 268 of the grooves 26 Upon passing thetorsion arm 27, the pins 42 are guided into the outboard portions 26A ofthe grooves 26. During the next injection cycle, the pins 42 force thearms 24 apart so that the ejector pins 41 clear the arms 17 of the nextcartridge 15 and the injectorpins 38 force thiscartridge into theprojector 11. When the slide 22 reaches the limit of its motion to theleft, the pins 41 have cleared the arms 17, and the bias springs 44cause the arms 24 and guide pins 42 to move into the inboard portion 268of the groove 26. The arms 24 are thus in position to remove the nextcartridge 15 upon completion of its play. In the play position thecartridge 15 is held fast by suitable means (not shown). The cyclesdescribed are repeated automatically until all of the cartridges 15 inthe guides 20 1 have been played.

' and described is by way of example only, and the invention is not tobe considered as limited thereto except insofar as the claims may be solimited. I claim:

1. In a self-contained automatic film cartridge projector apparatus thecombination comprising:

a housing having a plurality of side walls; a rear projection screendisposed in one of said side walls of said housing; film pro ector meansdisposed in said housing for projecting images on said screen;

a fixed base;

a horizontally movable slide mechanism mounted for reciprocating slidingmovement on said base for sequentially injecting film cartridges intothe projector;

injector arm means mounted on said slide mechanism and carrying a pairofinjector pins adapted to contact a pair of opposed horizontallyextending arms on the film cartridge during the injection cycle;

ejector arm means also mounted on said slide mechanism and carrying apair of ejector pins adapted to contact the arms on said cartridgesduring the ejection cycle; and

guide means effective to cause said ejector pins to clear the arms ofsaid cartridges during the injection cycle.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said ejector arm means comprises:

a pair of pivotally mounted arms each carrying one of said ejector pins;and

spring bias means connected to said arms and to said slide mechanism andeffective to bias said arms together.

3. The combination of claim 2 wherein said guide means comprises:

a guide block formed with a recessed continuous groove in the face ofsaid block; and

a guide pin mounted on said ejector arm and engaging said groove.

4. The combination of claim 3 wherein said continuous groove is in theform of an elongated rectangle disposed parallel to the direction oftravel of said slide mechanism and in which said guide pin engages thegroove nearest to said slide mechanism during the ejection cycle andengages to outermost groove during the injection cycle.

5. The combination of claim 4 including:

a torsion arm mounted within said groove and effective to direct saidguide pin into said outermost groove upon completion of an ejectioncycle and commencement of the next injection cycle.

6. The combination of claim 1 including:

a pair of vertically mounted guide channels disposed above said slidemechanism and effective to retain the arms of a stack of cartridges.

7. The combination of claim 1 including:

a cartridge receiving receptacle mounted above said slide mechanism andhaving a sloping ramp by means of which said cartridges are removed fromsaid slide mechanism during the ejection cycle.

8. The combination of claim 1 including drive means for driving saidslide mechanism comprising:

a electric drive motor carrying a pinion gear; and

a rack engaged by said pinion gear with one of said elements beingmounted on said base and the other on said slide mechanism.

1. In a self-contained automatic film cartridge projector apparatus thecombination comprising: a housing having a plurality of side walls; arear projection screen disposed in one of said side walls of saidhousing; film projector means disposed in said housing for projectingimages on said screen; a fixed base; a horizontally movable slidemechanism mounted for reciprocating sliding movement on said base forsequentially injecting film cartridges into the projector; injector armmeans mounted on said slide mechanism and carrying a pair of injectorpins adapted to contact a pair of opposed horizontally extending arms onthe film cartridge during the injection cycle; ejector arm means alsomounted on said slide mechanism and carrying a pair of ejector pinsadapted to contact the arms on said cartridges during the ejectioncycle; and guide means effective to cause said ejector pins to clear thearms of said cartridges during the injection cycle.
 2. The combinationof claim 1 wherein said ejector arm means comprises: a pair of pivotallymounted arms each carrying one of said ejector pins; and spring biasmeans connected to said arms and to said slide mechanism and effectiveto bias said arms together.
 3. The combination of claim 2 wherein saidguide means comprises: a guide block formed with a recessed continuousgroove in the face of said block; and a guide pin mounted on saidejector arm and engaging said groove.
 4. The combination of claim 3wherein said continuous groove is in the form of an elongated rectaNgledisposed parallel to the direction of travel of said slide mechanism andin which said guide pin engages the groove nearest to said slidemechanism during the ejection cycle and engages to outermost grooveduring the injection cycle.
 5. The combination of claim 4 including: atorsion arm mounted within said groove and effective to direct saidguide pin into said outermost groove upon completion of an ejectioncycle and commencement of the next injection cycle.
 6. The combinationof claim 1 including: a pair of vertically mounted guide channelsdisposed above said slide mechanism and effective to retain the arms ofa stack of cartridges.
 7. The combination of claim 1 including: acartridge receiving receptacle mounted above said slide mechanism andhaving a sloping ramp by means of which said cartridges are removed fromsaid slide mechanism during the ejection cycle.
 8. The combination ofclaim 1 including drive means for driving said slide mechanismcomprising: a electric drive motor carrying a pinion gear; and a rackengaged by said pinion gear with one of said elements being mounted onsaid base and the other on said slide mechanism.